Levy Claims Rivals Will Not Top Aegis Valuation

Maurice Levy, chief executive of media buying firm Publicis, has claimed that those hoping to bid for control of rival Aegis will struggle to trump his initial valuation, made in September.

The media mogul said in an interview with the Guardian that a non-trade buyer will face difficulty in matching his firm’s initial 140p per share valuation, which failed to develop into a full scale bid last month (see Publicis Backs Down From Aegis Take-Over).

Media giant WPP is currently in discussions with private equity firm Hellman & Friedman over a joint approach for control of Aegis. However, Levy said: “Normally a non-trade buyer will have an issue with getting synergies. To extract synergies you need some similar assets.”

The businessman also said that Vincent Bollore’s increasing share in Aegis had contributed to Publicis’ withdrawal from the race for Aegis, stating: “Vincent Bollore was going towards 20 pct and was making the acquisition more complicated.”

At close of business yesterday Bollore’s share had reached 20.96%, although this morning saw the French entrepreneur purchase a further 985,396 shares in the company to gain a 21.05% share.

Aegis Group: 020 7070 7700 www.aegisplc.com Publicis Groupe: www.publicis.com